Absence rates among secondary school year groups in key stage 3 were higher last term compared with a year earlier, analysis shows.
The analysis by FFT Education Datalab also reveals that the absence rates for disadvantaged secondary school students were markedly higher as they moved up a year.
FFT used data from its Attendance Tracker tool to compare absence rates among year groups, as these students moved up a year from the autumn term of 2022 to the autumn of last year.
Higher absence rates in secondary school
It found that all secondary year groups had higher absence in autumn 2023 than in autumn 2022, with the biggest increases among the youngest students.
Those moving from Year 7 into Year 8 saw an increase of 1.9 percentage points in the number of sessions missed, from 6.1 per cent in autumn 2022 to 8 per cent.
For those moving from Year 10 into Year 11 there was an 0.3 percentage-point increase, from 9.5 per cent to 9.8 per cent.
FFT found that at every transition point in secondary school absence figures for students from disadvantaged background increased more than for their peers.
It compared absence for pupils who were eligible for free school meals in the past six years (categorised as “FSM6”) and those who were not.
A blog post published today by FFT statistician Katie Beynon shows that the biggest increase in absence among both FSM6 and non-FSM6 pupils was for those moving from Year 7 into Year 8, followed by Year 8 into Year 9.
But FFT found the increase was much bigger for FSM6 students. These students saw an increase of 3.7 percentage points between Year 7 and Year 8, from 9 per cent to 12.7 per cent of sessions missed, while non-FSM6 pupils in this year group saw an increase of 1.2 percentage points, from 5.1 per cent to 6.3 per cent.
Between Year 8 and Year 9, absence among FSM6 students increased by 2.7 percentage points, from 11.8 per cent to 14.5 per cent of sessions, compared with 0.5 percentage points for non-FSM6 pupils, whose absence increased from 6.6 per cent to 7.1 per cent.
Lower absence in primary
On average, pupils in all primary year groups had lower absence rates in autumn 2023 than autumn 2022. The biggest drops were seen among the youngest pupils. Those moving from Reception into Year 1 saw a drop in absence of 2.3 percentage points (from 7.9 per cent in autumn 2022 to 5.6 per cent in autumn 2023).
FFT’s post highlights that absence overall was lower in autumn 2023 than 2022, and “particularly so in primary schools”.
The analysis also looked at the data by gender.
Among primary pupils, although boys tended to have slightly higher rates of absence than girls, the change from one year to the next didn’t seem to have any relationship with gender at all.
At secondary school, absence for girls increased by more than for boys at every transition point.
The biggest disparity between girls and boys was among students moving from Year 8 into 9, where absence for boys increased by 0.6 percentage points compared with 1.5 percentage points for girls.
The analysis has been carried out to mark the release of a new FFT Attendance Tracker report for schools in England.
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